Matheson Narrowly Defeats Mia Love in Utah House Race

Leah Barkoukis

11/7/2012 2:24:00 AM - Leah Barkoukis

Mia Love’s speech at the Republican National Convention completely changed the game for her in the race for Utah's 4th District. Up until her ‘coming out party’ at the RNC, Love was a heavy underdog, behind by double digits in the polls against her Democratic opponent. After the Convention, however, she closed the gap and even held a slight lead in the two most recent polls, which changed RCP’s rating of the race to toss-up.

Unfortunately, with 100 percent reporting in, the GOP favorite fell short of defeating Democratic Rep. Jim Matheson by roughly 2,800 votes as of writing. Matheson has now fended off six challengers since taking the 2nd District seat from a Republican 12 years ago. “[Matheson] jumped to the new 4th District this year after the GOP-controlled Utah Legislature carved up his district when it redrew congressional boundaries last fall,” according to Deseret News.

Love would have been the first African-American Republican woman in Congress.